Ayodeji Akande, who identified as a lawyer, is demanding a public apology and a payment of N1 billion in damages from an FIJ source whose call for social justice was reported on Thursday.In a pre-action letter dated January 2, AirJara headlined ‘pre-action letter for cyber-stalking’, a travel firm, accused the source and Uti of orchestrating a malicious campaign to tarnish their reputation. They claimed the publications were defamatory, incited public disdain, and caused emotional and psychological trauma to Abi Otedola, the founder of the travel agency.“Our client’s attention has been drawn to an online publication dated 2nd January 2025 by one Fisayo Soyombo aka Emmanuel Uti of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism captioned Abi Otedola ‘s AirJara Vanishes With N1.7m Million Lagos Man Paid For Canadian Work Permit 3 Years Ago ,” the letter reads in part.“The paragraphs in the storyline and the captions by them were targeted to incite the members of the public against our clients, to intimidate them and to cause public disorder, state of anarchy and chaos in the Air Travel and Tours business at large.“The publication has resulted in insomnia, our client could no longer sleep because the scandalous publication has caused the management loss of reputation and integrity. The writers, in addition also maliciously and mischievously painted our clients as fraudulent people who defraud their clients.“It is disheartening when people cash in on the freedom of speech and expression to write and unleash malice and such heinous, libellous, and defamatory publication against an innocent person and corporate organisation.”READ MORE: Abi Otedola’s Airjara Vanishes With N1.7m Lagos Man Paid for Canadian Work Permit 3 Years AgoBACKGROUNDOn January 2, FIJ reported about Taiwo Ogunjobi (pseudonym), a resident of Lagos State, who paid Abi Otedola’s Airjara Travel and Tours N1,728,000 for a Canadian work permit in March 2022 but neither received the permit nor a refund to date.Ogunjobi told FIJ he would never have parted with such an amount if Airjara Travel and Tours had been honest from the start. The company only informed him of their no-refund policy after he had made the required upfront payment.He explained that when he visited Airjara Travel and Tours’ office in Victoria Island, after being intrigued by their offers in a social media advert, a representative told him it was company policy for prospective customers to pay part of the permit fee before receiving further information.READ ALSO: Lagos Distributor Paid Korede Adeboyejo N9.7m for Canadian Visa in 2023. Nothing Came, He Went QuietBefore his visit, Ogunjobi learnt that the travel agency charged $5,000 to help Nigerians secure a Canadian work permit. This fee was confirmed during his meeting with them. After leaving their office, he decided to make a partial payment.“Airjara Travel and Tours sent me their account number after I requested it. They also promised to provide further information once they confirmed my payment. I paid N1,728,000 on March 1, 2022, which was the equivalent of $3,000 at the time,” Ogunjobi told FIJ.Ogunjobi said the agency began demanding N216,000 for value-added tax (VAT) after his initial payment. He expressed his displeasure, as this had not been disclosed earlier. However, after some calls, the company agreed to reduce the amount to N150,000, which he paid on the same day.READ ALSO: Lagos Man Paid Expedia Consult’s Beverly Basil N4m for Canada Admission in 2023. She Disappeared With the MoneyOgunjobi said everything seemed fine until March 3, 2022, when the agency sent him a form to fill out.“On the form, they stated that any payments made were non-refundable, regardless of the success or failure of the work permit application. I was shocked to see such a condition and immediately called them. I told them that if I had known about this earlier, I would have made a more informed decision,” he recalled.Ogunjobi said he asked for a refund when the company insisted it was their policy but they assured him there was no need to worry because they had a high success rate with applications. He then filled out the form.READ ALSO: After Receiving Millions From Nigerians Seeking Visas, Peace Travels’ Adeleke Omotayo Relocates to UK“I began to follow up to track the progress of my application. They kept asking me to be patient until the end of 2022. By mid-2023, I wrote to them, threatening legal action if I didn’t receive my permit or a refund. They responded that I was free to go to court and didn’t need to wait for the deadline I had given them.“They even boasted that their lawyers would be ready for me. However, towards the end of 2023, I noticed that all their lines were no longer connecting, and they stopped responding to emails. I discovered they had vacated the premises when I went to their office. Both the company and its owner have been unreachable since then.”FIJ contacted Airjara Travel and Tours via email on Tuesday, as their phone numbers were not connecting, but they did not respond. Instead, Otedola’s lawyer said “He went ahead to give our client an ultimatum till 1st January 2025 when everybody in Nigeria knows that all the corporate organisations in Nigeria would be on holiday and 1st January 2025 was a public holiday.”Airjara has yet to provide Ogunjobi’s work permit or a refund of the payments he made in 2022.The post Lawyer Demands N1bn From Lagos Man for Revealing Abi Otedola, AirJara’s N1.7m Debt appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.